


Halloween Costuming

by spnstuck



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Halloween, toukenweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-08
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-02-24 12:32:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2581574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spnstuck/pseuds/spnstuck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Touka needs Kaneki's help concerning a halloween party.  For Toukenweek on tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Depending on how this is received, I might write a second chapter?? I don't know, bruh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh help what is pacing

"You're saying I need a  _costume?"_

"Yes!  I said that already."

"Are you sure everyone will be wearing a costume?"

"I-I think they will be."

"What do you mean you 'think'?"

"I haven't actually been to a Halloween party."

"What?!"

"Hide has!"

Touka stirred her coffee with a spoon vigorously.  Swells of caffeine were approaching the lip of the cup.  "Did he wear a costume?"

Kaneki anxiously rubbed a spot where a shaft of sunlight hit the table of Anteiku.  "Yes.  He was a ghost."

She rolled her eyes.  "That's stupid."

"Will Yoriko be wearing a costume?"  He asked.

"I'm sure she will be," Touka huffed.  "I don't know why I agreed to go.  It doesn't sound fun.  Why would I spend money on something I'm going to wear once?"

"Yoriko will like that you're coming," he suggested.

"I know, I know."  She sipped the coffee thoughtfully.  "I just don't know what to do."

"There's probably a costume place around here?"

She set her drink down and glanced up at Kaneki.  "Is there?  Do you know where it is?"

He held up one hand cautiously. "I, uh, think I could find it-"

"Great!"  She leapt up from her seat, knocking her chair backwards.  "Come with me, then."

"Right now?"  He yelped.

"Yes, right now!  I'm off work today and the party is at seven!"

"Tonight?!"

"Yes!"  She grabbed a jacket and stood by the door.

Kaneki sighed, tipping his half-finished coffee into the trash and joining her in front of Anteiku. 

 

The nearest shop that sold Halloween costumes was a thirty-minute walk composed mostly of Touka's complaining and Kaneki's slightly exasperated responses.  The store itself was swathed in traditional orange and black, overflowing with plastic and rubber decorations.  

"I wonder what this store sells the rest of the year," Kaneki mused aloud as they walked inside.  A motion-activated wraith cackled, causing him to jump.

"I can't believe this," Touka muttered, eyeing a skeleton window display.  "That doesn't even look like a real skeleton."

"I think the costumes are near the back," he replied.

The store was fairly crowded, even in the middle of the day.  Large racks of garish decorations were strung from every hook and counter, and kids ran around brandishing skeletal digits.  A sizable section of the store was dedicated to candy of all variations:  American and Japanese.

Kaneki sniffled as the acrid-sweet smell hit his nose.  He knew that at  _some_ point it tasted delicious to him-at some point candy was the epitome of a child's food pyramid, or the ultimate reward.  But now it was hard to imagine even the suggestion of those neon wrappers.  He looked over at Touka, who was making a face.

"I can't believe parents just let their kids roam around strangers and eat that shit," she scowled.

Kaneki suddenly felt an urge to defend his humanity.  "It sounds bad when you put it  _that_ way, " he pointed out, "But it's a lot of fun.  You go with friends, and try to scared, and eat lots and lots of candy, and pretend punch is blood, and-"

"Ugh, stop, you're making me sick," Touka hissed, waving to cut him off.  "Keep moving."

 

They also had to pass a row of scary movies.  Kaneki stopped to examine one shelf, stacked with titles like _The Unforgiving_ and  _Monster of the Deep!_ A small screen flickered through clips of various movies.  One flashed by a woman screaming as blood spurted across her white dress, then falling to the ground to join piles of gore.

 Kaneki's stomach growled without warning and a bolt of fear pierced his chest, accompanied by a pulsing feeling in his fingertips and his breath halting then speeding up.  His hand immediately flew up to check if his eyepatch was in place, exhaling in relief when the familiar, worn cloth brushed against his fingertips.  

 Kaneki swallowed nervously.  His hands shook, and in the back of his mind came an unsteady  _thump-tha-thump_ sound.  He backed away from the stand until someone grabbed his hand.  His head snapped up and met Touka's dark eyes.  

"It's okay, Kaneki," she said.  Her tugging mimed impatience but her expression spoke sympathy.  "Let's keep moving."

 

"What about that one?"  

"Which one?"  Kaneki still felt nervous energy vibrating his joints, but Touka's constant stream of questions-probably intentional-were a decent distraction.

She flicked a costume.  "That one."

"A cat?"

"Yeah.  It looks easy."

" _Everyone's_  a cat."

"Good, I won't stand out."

"No, the point is to stand out."

"Yet another aspect of this shitty event I don't understand."

Kaneki snatched a grisly clown mask off of the wall and held it in front of his face.  "What about this?"

"You look like you're wearing something Uta made."

"Hmph."  He hung it back up, next to a row of 'sexy doctors'.  "None of these seem really...you."

"I'm beginning to realize that," she muttered, delicately tapping one finger against her cheek.

"Do you want to try someplace else?"

"No, we don't have time.  What about...this?"  She reached forward and unhooked a costume.  It was all folded up, but Kaneki could see a shimmery black fabric coupled with iridescent wings.  

"What is it?"  He asked.

She examined the clear plastic package.  "A fairy, I think?  It's in my size."  She looked up at him.  "What do you think?"

"It's cute, I guess.  I don't really know."  Kaneki could feel his cheeks going warm.  

"Cute, huh?"  She held at arm's distance away, no longer facing him.  "I could do cute."

"Uh, are you ready, then?  To go?"

She tucked the costume bag under one arm, still scanning the back wall.  "Sure, sure, yeah."

"Okay, I'll be by the front if you want to look around a little bit longer."

"Hey, wait...Kaneki?"  Her voice changed in tone, swooping lower and softer.  Kaneki-who had already turned around-froze and pivoted to face her.  

"Yes, Touka?"  There went his cheeks again, for no damned reason.  

She stared at some spot near his shoes.  "What if I look weird?  You don't know, you've never been to a Halloween party."

He tipped his head to one side, ignoring the twinge of hurt at her words.  "What about Yoriko?   And your other friends?"  He asked.

"I don't... _have_ a lot of other friends.  and Yoriko will be busy talking to people. You better be right about this costume thing."

Hesitantly, he walked up to her and placed one hand on her shoulder.  "Stop," Touka said tersely, and Kaneki let his hand slip off to rejoin his side.  Another pang of something-or-other guided him to step back.

"I'm sure you'll be fine," he reassured, trying to meet her gaze.

"Okay, well, I'm sure I'll be  _fine_ , but I don't want to look  _stupid_ , which is why you should come with.  In a costume.  That way I won't look like the only one with their head up their ass."  She finally twitched her head up and glared at him.  

 _It's not like I've done anything_ wrong.  "Er, uh, won't Yoriko be confused as to who I am?"  He stammered, rubbing at a spot on his chin nervously.

Touka rolled her eyes.  "Are you joking?  As far as she's concerned, the more, the merrier.  She's seen you before, too, when you were over at my place once."

"She's, um, she wouldn't happen to be the one who thought we were dating?"

Touka's gaze shifted to the side.  "Yup, that's her.  Don't worry, though.  I'll clear things up when we're there, which is another reason I want to go.  And you can come too, to help me explain."

Was Kaneki imagining it, or were her cheeks turning pink too?  It was difficult to tell.  "Yes?"

"Right!"  She shoved him backwards, breaking the tension.  "Then let's find you something that's not 'sexy vampire'."

 


	2. The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaneki is (unwillingly) dragged to Yoriko's Halloween Party via Touka

"I think...this is it," Touka hummed, nodding towards a blazing house at the front of the neighborhood.

"I think so too," Kaneki replied quietly. It was the only house on the street with lights on, and the only one from which jilting music spilled onto the street. Pulsating orange light pooled around giant spiders and coffins on the front lawn, and a few flickering strobe lights threw shadows up the side of the house. The flashing was already making Kaneki's eyes hurt, and he had to squint to park the car across the street.

"There's a lot of people," Touka commented, already climbing out of the passenger seat.

"Are you sure I have to come? I'm not going to know anyone, I already told you."

"And I already told _you_ , I'm not going to know many people either. We'll have each other to talk to." Now she was walking up the front path, leaving Kaneki stranded at the mailbox. He had to jog up the steep yard to catch up to her.

The front door looked like it was about to fly off its hinges, the music was so loud. If the concrete was vibrating out here, it had to be deafening inside.

Touka's hand hovered over the doorbell, then at the knob.

"Good choice," Kaneki said, and she grinned before twisting the handle.

 

It was as chaotic on the inside as it had looked from the outside.  People were crammed everywhere: the hallway, adjacent rooms, the staircase, even a few lifted into the air.  Touka's mouth immediately slashed into a frown.  She muttered something under her breath, but it was impossible to hear over the pumping baseline.

She tugged on his sleeve and pushed through the crowd in front of them, sometimes shouting "Move!" and "Thanks!" and sometimes just stepping on their feet until they moved.  Kaneki shrunk away every time he bumped into another person, but no one really seemed to notice, or care.  

"Where are we going?!" He shouted.  Touka turned around to make sure it was him talking, then shouted  back:

"Yoriko!"

Kaneki wasn't sure how anyone could find anyone in the surrounding chaos, so he walked faster to make sure Touka's iron grip wouldn't be twisted away.

She led them past several rooms Kaneki could only snatch a glimpse into.  Some rooms only had people dancing, some with groups playing drinking games, and one or two full of food.  He didn't recognize anyone, but he didn't expect to either; he was at a college student at Kamii, after all, while everyone else here was still in high school.

Touka pulled him along with sudden vigor, and Kaneki had to jump forward to avoid falling onto someone's fluffy tail trailing on the floor.  He jumped on his toes to see over the rest of the crowd, and finally spotted a semi-familiar figure perched on the edge of a couch, laughing.  That had to be Yoriko, then.

"Touka!" Yoriko squealed when she spotted them, leaping up from her spot and tackling the shorter girl in a hug.  Kaneki noticed that Touka had quickly released her hold on his sleeve, allowing him to stand a few feet away.  "I'm so glad you made it!  It's crazy, right?" She gushed, clamping her hands on Touka's shoulders.  "You look amazing!"

Kaneki glanced away self-consciously.  It  _was_ a good fit for her: the form-fitting, glittery black dress was shredded into thin strands that tapered off a few inches above her knees, and the green-ish wings caught the light when she shifted, as they did now when she shrugged.

Kaneki had found a pirate costume.  It wasn't very impressive: only a striped shirt, hook hand, black hat, and eyepatch, but it was cheap and quick and subtle, so it suited him well.  The black, skull-embellished eyepatch was a good replacement for his standard medical one.  It was particularly useful now.  His nerves were causing his kakugan to twitch intermittently, like an itch that wouldn't go away.

"You should thank my friend over there, Kaneki.  He helped me pick it out."  Touka nodded to Kaneki, and Yoriko's head whipped around in surprise.

"Wait!" She stammered, "You-you're the one who was-with Touka!  That one day!"  Her eyebrows shot together in a sudden shift of expression.  "Touka!"

"It's not like that!" Touka exclaimed, waving her arms furiously in front of Yoriko's face.  "I brought him to help clear that up, and so you guys could be properly introduced.  He was-helping me with my schoolwork that day when I wasn't feeling well.  He's a  _Kamii student_ , Yoriko, there's nothing going on.  I swear."

Kaneki just stood uncomfortably, feeling the blush flare up again.  "Touka's right.  There's nothing going on, and you shouldn't be mad at her any longer for a misconception involving me."

Yoriko's fixed frown melted into a hesitant smile.  "Oh.  Wow.  I'm sorry, Touka.  And you too-Kaneki, is it?  Sorry.  I kind of overreacted."

"Yeah, you did, " Touka giggled.  She batted her friend's arm playfully, and Yoriko flipped her short hair.  

"I guess I couldn't  _stand_ the idea of Touka having an older boyfriend before me.  Good thing that's not happening."  

It was odd seeing the two of them act so...casual? Kaneki could only remember a Touka who'd torn off a dead man's arm and shoved the bloody meat into his mouth when he'd refused to eat it himself.  But it was nice to see that she had a life outside of the one that remained tucked away at Anteiku.  School, a social setting-Kaneki felt his throat tighten up, and he swallowed thickly.

"Well, speaking of, I saw a cute guy in the front room earlier, and I'm going to see if he's still around," Yoriko grinned.  She vanished into the next room, suddenly impossible to pick out again.

"Go get him!" Touka waved her friend away, the smile lingering on her face. "Ah-sorry, Kaneki."

"No, it's fine!  I'm glad you have such a good friend," he said quickly.  

"I do," she said, and there was a pulse of silence.  Kaneki was starting to feel more and more like he was intruding upon a part of Touka he wasn't comfortable in-and probably didn't much fit into anyway.  

"Well, I might just leave," Kaneki said slowly, "You have my number for when you want to get picked up-"

"Are you joking?!" Touka interrupted.  "Yoriko just left!  I can't go back and talk to her again, that's clingy!  She has to see me again later too, at least once, so she doesn't think I came to clear everything up and then left again.  That's rude."

"Oh, my mistake."  Kaneki rolled his eyes, and Touka slapped his shoulder.  

"We can go check out one of those rooms where stuff's happening." She jerked her head forward, and he didn't know what to do but follow.

Inside, a rambunctious and thoroughly disorganized game of the spin-the-battle was trying to take place.  It was mostly failing, as people were too busy shouting over the music or talking to their friends to pay attention to the whirling coke can.  

Every time it swiveled in Kaneki's general vicinity, his heart clawed its way towards his throat and he found himself clutching desperately at the carpet.  Thankfully, it never landed on him, but Touka had already been pulled into the closet twice.  

It didn't  _bother_ him, per se; he knew Touka could take care of herself and would give shit to anyone who said otherwise.

It kind of bothered him.

Not that he was going to say anything, of course.

"Touka  _again!?"_  Someone shouted, catching Kaneki's attention again.  Touka was pouting, hands perched on her hips, but a smile was threatening to overtake the sides of her mouth.  

With a casual flick, she sent the bottle spinning in the other direction.  It rotated once, twice, three times, then began the wide, slow swerve towards the opposite side of the circle.  

It landed on Kaneki, naturally.

Nobody had said anything yet-Touka was distracted by waving at someone across the room-so Kaneki leaned forward to nudge the bottle over, but:

"Hey, no cheating!"  He was nudged from one side, and enough shouting generated to where Touka looked over and saw Kaneki in the middle.

Kaneki sighed as Touka's eyes widened.  Then quickly she smiled and stood, brushing off microscopic dust motes.  "Alright, then, come on!"

"But what about Yoriko?" Kaneki tried to ask over the buzz of " _ooooohhhhhh_ 's" that immediately bubbled up from their group.  She didn't seem to hear him, only stepping over the bottle to link arms and drag him towards the designated closet.

She shoved him rather roughly inside, slamming the door behind them so the slightest sliver of light sliced around the edges.

"Touka, I didn't-I'm so sorry," Kaneki stammered.

"It's fine," she muttered.  He could only make out her outline when she moved, as she did now, leaning against the wall.  "I was more annoyed they made such a big deal out of it.  I don't even  _know_ these people.  And I don't like the idea of Yoriko seeing or hearing about that and thinking I was lying to her."

"I don't think she'll believe that."

"I hope not.  I can always blame it on a rumor or something."

"Right."

"Okay, see if you can back up for a second.  I have to ruffle my hair and I don't want to hit you."

"You have to what?"

"They won't believe we actually kissed otherwise; they might even push us back in.  I've played this game before.  It's savage."

"Do people take it seriously?"  He ducked her elbow.

"It all depends.  Who you are, who the other person is, who you're with...You don't have to make that face."

Kaneki quickly dropped the downturn of his mouth.  "How can you see me?"

"Ghoul senses better than humans, remember?  Yours...I don't know.  But I guess they're probably better than a human's, if only slightly."

"Oh."

A white light suddenly erupted between them.  Kaneki winced as Touka turned her phone screen towards herself.  "I guess that's okay," she said slowly.

"It looks fine."

"The point isn't for it to be fine.  It's supposed to be both messy and cute.  It has to balanced.  Believable."

"Oh.   I guess it's both, then."

"Do you think it's almost time?"

"Can you check your phone?"

"I didn't see the time when we got pushed in here, stupid."

He rolled his eyes.

"I saw that."

"There's no way."

"You're right.  I guessed, but I was right."

There were a few breaths if silence as she finished checking her hair, then they were submerged back into darkness accompanied with the phone's click.  

"I'm almost out of charge," she explained.

"So..."  He began tentatively.  " Have you ever actually kissed anyone in this game?"

"Kaneki!  What the fuck?  That's not any of your business!"

"You're right, you're right!  I'm sorry...I just was curious, I guess.  Like...".  He'd gone too far now.  

"Like what?!"

"Like-like-If I ever play this game again..."

"I already told you, it depends on who you're with."

"Do they expect you take kiss the other person?"

"Kaneki, damn, I know you're just trying to find a way to get me to say yes or no to whether I've kissed someone.  You're not Yomo, you don't have to be like my brother or anything.  It's weird.  I can take care of myself.  You're not even that much older than me."

"I know that," he said quickly.

"Then that gives you your answer."

"Which part...?  Oh.  You haven't kissed anyone here."

"Fuck, no.  I can't believe you'd even think that.  I'm not remotely interested in the people...here."

Oh.  Oh.  "So what did you do?"

"I told them to stand where you're standing, and I played on my phone.  That's why I'm on nine percent."

Somehow, the image of Touka staring some terrified boy into paralysis while simultaneously playing Flappy Bird was an appropriate image.

"You wouldn't kiss a stranger.  That's dirty if nothing else."

"Dirty?"

"I don't know where their mouths have been!  If I had to kiss someone, it'd at least be someone I know."  

For the third time that night,  heat uncoiled in Kaneki's throat and he pressed farther back into the closet.  "That makes-" He coughed. "-makes sense.  That makes sense."

 She abruptly went quiet.  "What would you do if you had to be I'm a room with someone you didn't know?"

"I-I have no idea." He swallowed uncertainly, face flaming.  "If I had to play this game with someone, I guess I would want to be with someone I knew too."

"Like...I guess it would also have to depend on how well you knew the other person, you know?"

"Right."

"Like your friend Hide.  I wouldn't kiss him because I don't know him."

He laughed nervously. "Of course."

"That's no offense to him, though.  He seems alright."

"He's a good friend."

"Who _would_  you kiss?  If you had to, I mean."

"Huh? I don't know...it's not something I think about."

"It's not something I think about either! I'm just asking."

This was quickly becoming a conversation Kaneki wished he could melt out of.  "I don't know, Touka..."

The silence that followed was suffocating, clumsy, abrasive, until Touka popped it: "I guess I wouldn't mind kissing  _you_."

And that was all the encouragement he needed.  She met him halfway, clutching at his shirt, pausing and giggling before smashing their lips together with breathless enthusiasm.  He felt his anxiety spark into excitement, relief, a tangled mess of feelings that clung to the word  _finally._

Her fingers teased at his hair, and he only saw flashes of her eyes when she opened them, pulling away so they could catch their breath, toss a few embarrassed glances and sighs, then come together again. 

Suddenly Kaneki was very happy he had come to the party.

At least until the door flew open, light and music pierced the closet, and Touka yelped and pushed away from him so fast that he stumbled, blinking at the neon slicing across his eyes.

But it was a party, and as another couple slipped in behind them, nobody noticed, and nobody cared when Touka brushed her hair back into place and Kaneki reset his eyepatch, and offered his hand to hers.  No one even blinked when she accepted it, and only Kaneki could hear Touka under the flow of the bass line: "Yoriko's gonna kill me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so so so sorry this took so long! School got in the way at first, and then simple summer laziness...but here it is. I'm posting it quickly so that I can finally get something out in writing, but I'll probably check back and reread it again for errors in the morning. Next time will be much faster, promise!


End file.
